


Dalton Academy

by Bablefisk



Category: Glee
Genre: Dalton Academy, F/F, F/M, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:48:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bablefisk/pseuds/Bablefisk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt transfers to Dalton, but decides that instead of hanging on to Blaine, he's going to make his own way and his own friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This starts when Kurt starts at Dalton, and up to that point it's mostly canon. This is a WIP, and I don't have any firm idea of where it's going to end, I'm simply going where the story leads me. It will be a Kurt/Dalton students friendship fic, and you might recognize some of the scenes from another story of mine, “Connecting to Dalton”.  
> Pairing: Undecided as of now, but NOT Klaine  
> Beta: Many thanks again to The Other.  
> Disclaimer: Glee is not mine, or else Kurt would be shacking it up with Sebastian.

**Chapter 1: The End**

Kurt Hummel was officially giving up. Well, not giving up in general, but giving up on McKinley. His dad had found out that Karofsky had threatened him, Karofsky had been expelled, but was coming back, and when Burt and Carol offered to send him to Dalton, he decided it was time to jump ship while he still could. 

He was not looking forward to telling the New Directions, and knew they would probably accuse him of running and promise they could protect him. The problem was that they couldn't, and Kurt didn't want to live like that for the next two years. He knew one person though, who would most likely only be sad. Tina. Not many people saw their friendship, but if Kurt were to say who his best friend was, it would be her. His friendship with Mercedes was a lot louder and out there, but was also a lot shakier, and had already taken several death giving blows. Kurt had reached his limit with her, and the last few months where all she could think about were her 'tots, and didn't notice that Kurt had an issue the size of Mount Everest, was just the last nail in the coffin. 

He had known Tina since before he could remember. They lived just a few minutes away from each other, and had met in the park when Tina was three and he was four. A few years later Kurt's mother died, and Kurt had stayed with Tina and her family a few weeks after the funeral - his dad too much of a mess to take care of anything but himself. 

When Tina and Artie started dating, Kurt backed away a little to give them some space. Artie had thanked him with a nod, but Tina had followed him home and refused to leave until he told her why he suddenly didn't want to hang out. They talked, he told her, and their friendship became less obvious and more behind closed doors. The two of them had been together when the locker-checks started, and they soon learned how to treat the bruises to make them hurt less. They would sit on the bed, either in Kurt's basement or Tina's room, and take care of the others bruised back and sides. Kurt often had it worse, both because he was a more obvious target, but also because he bruised very easily. When things got worse with Karofsky at the start of the year, Tina was still the one to take care of them, and she was one of the few people that knew almost everything that had happened. And that was why she would most likely just be sad; sad that he was leaving, sad that she couldn't do more to help him than she had. 

He walked into the choir room, interrupting Mr. Schue's talk about a solo for sectionals. It just added more annoyance; of course he would get what he wanted just when he had to leave, it was just his luck. 

“First, I wanted to thank everyone for what you did at my dad's wedding; especially Finn. It's nice to know that I have great friends here, as well as a true brother.” Kurt felt he was laying it on a bit thick, but no one except Tina and surprisingly Puck seemed to realize something was not right. It wasn't that he hadn't loved the gesture at the wedding, but Finn had jumped so much back and forth between being nice and not the last year that it was a bit hard to hope that it would stick this time. 

“Which is why it's so hard for me to leave.” 

Shock and silence hit Kurt like a wall, and he almost stumbled. 

Quinn spoke up. “What do you mean leave?” 

He gave a sigh before he started talking again, preparing himself for the comments. “I'm transferring, to Dalton Academy. Immediately. My parents are using the money they saved up for their honeymoon to pay for the tuition.” 

“What the hell dude, how about you talk to me about this?” Finn was walking towards him, clearly agitated. 

“There's nothing to talk about. Karofsky is coming back tomorrow, which means I won't be.” Kurt looked over at Tina, and his heart swelled as he saw her blank eyes, trying to hold back the tears, her mouth forcefully closed, keeping whatever she wanted to say in for now. The rest of New Directions started talking and protesting, claiming they could keep him safe, and Kurt could see Tina in his side-view, holding Mike back and shaking her head. The tall dancer looked at her in confusion, but then seemed to understand that his girlfriend knew more about what was happening, and he sat back down again.

Suddenly Mercedes spoke up, and what she said stung like nothing else, and was, for Kurt the last bang with the hammer at the last nail. “It's just Karofsky. None of us enjoy his bullying, but leaving now is just letting him win, running away.”

Kurt grounded his teeth together, anger shining in his eyes. He could almost feel Tina's bitch rising up, and he spoke harshly. “Look, things are a lot worse than any of you know, and let’s just say my life isn't the only thing I have to worry about if I continue here.” Tina's sharp eyes found his, and he knew he would have to tell her later about what had happened. “What I need now is the zero-bullying policy at Dalton, it's enforced.” 

No one seemed to know what to say after that. Finn knew about the death threat, of course, and Tina knew about the bruises, but no one knew the whole truth. By the end of the day, Tina would probably know everything, but Kurt had no plan on telling everyone. 

 

****

*DALTON ACADEMY*

Some hours later, Kurt was sitting in Tina's room, sitting cross legged on the bed facing each other. They were eating and talking, mostly about the last few hours.

“We called Dalton, and they'll let me have the weekend to get situated before I start school. We have to pay tuition out the year, but in January a lot of scholarships open up, so I can apply for several then. Which is good, otherwise I would have to tap into my college fund, and I do not want to do that. I'm going to board - it's cheaper than driving back and forth each day, so I was hoping you would help me pack tomorrow after school? I have to go in early Sunday, so that I can get everything in order for classes and such.” Kurt looked at his girl, putting the empty Thai food container on the floor before leaning back on his hands. 

“Of course I'll help you pack, and afterwards we'll have a sleepover, just the two of us. Your dad will probably claim you for Friday night family dinner, and you need the last night to be at home, but I claim Thursday!” Tina had finished eating a while ago, and was fiddling with the chopsticks as she talked. 

“Of course, I would love to. You gonna skip Friday?”

“Yeah, I'll talk to mom, she'll get it. Besides, Mom and dad will want to say goodbye to you as well.”

Kurt just nodded, Susan and Thanh Cohen-Chang were almost his second pair of parents. 

Suddenly, Tina seemed timid, and as she started talking, Kurt knew that they were going to talk important stuff. Serious stuff. “Kurt, what haven't you told me? I know it's more than the bruises, and I know you got Karofsky kicked out last week, but not how. Oh, and by the way, off with the shirt and lay down on the bed.” She jumped off the bed and went over to the windowsill, where she had a 'bruise-kit'. They had each made one about a year ago, with salves and creams for the bruises. They also both kept icepacks in the freezer. 

When Kurt had stripped and lay down, Tina started to spread the salve over his back. These bruises was far from the worst he had had, as Karofsky had been gone from school a week, but it still looked like Kurt came straight from the boxing ring. 

Whilst they waited for the salve to sink in, Tina ran downstairs to find the ice. A few minutes later, faster than usual, Kurt could hear someone walking up the stairs, and just as the door opened that someone talked and Kurt's heart sank. 

“Hey, Tina, your mom let me...” Kurt turned around to see Mike standing in the doorway, looking in shock at Kurt and his bruised back. 

Before either of them could say anything, Tina came in the door and almost crashed into her boyfriend. She looked from Kurt to Mike, before heaving a deep sigh. “Shit.”

That seemed to break the boys out of their shock, and Kurt lay his head down on the bed again, softly swearing. 

Mike walked towards the bed as he started talking. “Dude, what the hell happened to your back?” 

Kurt looked up at him again, raising an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

Mike seemed dumbfounded for a few moments before his eyes lit up in understanding. “You mean this is all Karofsky?”

“Well, a couple of them are probably Azimio, but yes, mostly it's Karofsky.” 

“Dude. I know you said it was worse than we knew, but man, this is bad.” 

In a moment of weakness that would decide the rest of the evening, Kurt sarcastically replied. “Bad? This is normal. I thought this what most of you knew. The worse is...much worse.” By the time Kurt had stopped talking, he realized his mistake, and buried his head in the pillow whilst Tina bandaged his wounds. Mike looked at them for a few moments before talking again, looking at his girlfriend uncertainly. 

“It looks like you know what you're doing.”

Tina gave a sigh before answering. “It's because I do. We - me and Kurt - have been doing this for a year. He usually gets it worse than me, but a couple of times every week, we do this.” Tina and Mike had gone as far as sex, but the first time had been during summer, and Tina had been thankfully bruise free by that time. It was harder to sneak away during school, and as more attention was given Kurt, less was given Tina, so she had managed to lie her way out of it the few times she had bruises. 

**

Mike wasn't sure, but maybe this was what it felt like being in shock. He had known of course that both Tina and Kurt were bullied, but this went beyond that. This was bad, and from what the best friends said, it was a whole lot worse than he thought. 

When he had first started dating Tina, he hadn't known that she and Kurt were so close. They hid it well, not on purpose, but anyone seeing them at school would simply thing them glee mates, not friends. Turns out, Kurt was the secret best friend sitting in the wings. Mike had realized this a few weeks into their relationship, when he found out that Tina and Kurt talked on the phone every day. He learned more about Kurt that summer than he knew about anyone else in glee, and with Matt gone, he was kind of glad to get to know some of the other people in glee a little better. When they had come home from Asian camp, he had been a little worried, because he really wanted Kurt to like him. The other boy had simply threatened Mike once about hurting Tina, but after that, they got along famously. Mike had been surprised to find out that much like Mike himself, Kurt was an academic person, and he loved to discuss his classes, as long as it wasn't math. 

Safe to say, Kurt had surprised Mike a lot the last few months, and Mike had a feeling it was going to continue for a while yet.

**

“So, are you gonna tell us what you mean by worse? And what you meant in Glee today when you said that it wasn't only your life you were afraid of?” Kurt looked over at Mike, and then at Tina and heaved a big sigh. He knew he wasn't getting away from this, so he sat up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. He could feel the ice pressing into his bruised skin, and he closed his eyes when he started talking. 

“A few weeks ago, Karofsky pushed my phone out of my hand, and I just had enough. So I ran after him, into the locker room, and confronted him. I yelled a lot of stuff, asking why he couldn't just leave me alone, and in general provoking him when he wouldn't answer. When it looked like he was about to hit me, I kept telling him to do it, just hit me, and get it over with, but before I knew what was happening, he kissed me.” Halfway through, Kurt had opened his eyes again, and he was looking at the Asian couple, both of them sitting on the bed in front of him. When he said the last part, Tina's eyes widened in shock, and Mike jaw dropped. 

“What?” Mike barely managed to breathe out the question. 

“Yeah, I was a shocked as you. He pulled away and went in for another kiss, but I pushed him off and ran. Over the next week he started following me around, winking at me, leering, he even squeezed my ass. Once, he told me that I should be careful, or he would steal more than a kiss. Then he threatened me, told me that if I told anyone, he would kill me. Three days later, my dad found out about the death threat, we talked to Sylvester who kicked him out. Today the school board reversed that, due to 'lack of evidence', and Karofsky is coming back.”

Before Kurt had any time to progress what was happening, he was pulled into a three-way hug. He let himself relax slightly, feeling the heat from his friends, the familiar smell from Tina and the slightly unknown smell from Mike. After a few minutes, they all pulled back, and Tina started talking. 

“I'm just glad you are getting away from that, I don't care that I have to drive over an hour if I want to see you, I want you safe.”

“Yeah, and I am going to kill Karofsky! Can I tell the other guys?” Mike was looking at Kurt with pleading eyes. 

“No, you can tell the club about the death threat, but not the other stuff. Word would get around, and my dad would have another heart attack, and I don't want that. You can tell them that he threatened me and that something else also happened, but that I don't want to share it.”

“Fine.” Both Tina and Mike nodded, and Tina went to remove the bandages and ice from Kurt. They spent another hour talking, mostly about Dalton and what it was going to be like, before Kurt had to go home. 

As he drove from the house, Kurt was sad, but at the same time he was relieved. He was getting away from the poison at McKinley, and although it would be tough to start a new school during the school year, it was nothing compared to what staying would do.


	2. Welcome to Dalton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta: Many thanks again to The Other.   
> Disclaimer: Glee is not mine.

Kurt pulled the Navigator into the parking lot at Dalton Academy, his dads’ truck following close behind. Burt and Kurt had driven together in the Navigator to have the last two hours they could together, and Finn had driven the truck behind them. Tina, Mike and Puck had offered to come and help, but there was only so much Kurt could bring with him anyways. He had, with Tina and Mike's help, packed up most of his room, because they were looking for a new house now, and would need to move soon anyway, but he had only brought what he needed. He had a suitcase with clothes; things he would wear after school and on the weekends he stayed at Dalton, as well as any accessory he could get away with on the uniform. He had a box with personal items, like pictures and the like, one box with books and one with movies. All his music was on his iPod, so he had only brought the speakers for it, as well as his laptop. Anything else he might need he had decided to bring with him on the first trip home.

The three of them walked towards the main office. The halls were quiet, as it was Sunday morning and most students were probably either eating breakfast or still sleeping. Finn looked around the halls in awe as they made their way through them, and Kurt could swear he heard his brother mumble “Do the paintings move?” They reached the office, and as they had an appointment with the headmaster, they were let in without any waiting.

The headmaster, a tall, black man stood up from his seat behind the large desk. He was wearing a pair of suit pants and a gray shirt, and wore a smile as he stretched out his hand in greeting.

“Hi, you must be the Hummels, welcome to Dalton. My name is Michael Ambrio, I'm Headmaster here at Dalton.”

“Hi, I'm Kurt” Kurt shook his hand, before gesturing to Burt and Finn. “This is my dad, and that's Finn, my step-brother.”

Burt shook the man’s hand, whilst Finn simply gave a nod.

“Well, we're glad to have you here. Please, sit down.” They all sat down in the seats provided. “Now, Kurt, you will be starting with the classes tomorrow. We have your records, of course, and have placed you in what should be the correct classes, but as it is in the middle of the semester, we want you to take some placement tests, just to be sure. So instead of classes on Thursday, you will take the tests.” After a nod from Kurt, he handed Kurt a folder before he continued talking. “This is all the information you should need. You will find our rules and regulations and also information about the dorms, common rooms and the clubs we have. Your roommate, Jeff Sterling, will also be your guide, and he will show you around the school later today. He will also help you through all this information, and tell you anything else that might be of interest. He should be here any second to show you to your room.”

30 minutes later Kurt watched as his dad drove off with a heavy heart. He was glad he had decided to come to Dalton, but he would miss his dad something horribly. They had never been away from each other longer than a weekend, and Kurt was used to having his reassuring presence around. He gave a great sigh just as he felt someone stop next to him, and he looked over at his roommate. Jeff Sterling was a smiling, blond haired sophomore, and just by the 27 minutes that Kurt had known him, he had no doubt that they would get along great. Kurt had been a little nervous that whoever he ended up sharing with would be uncomfortable with his obvious homosexuality, but Jeff had just smiled and engaged Kurt and Burt in conversation whilst Finn continued looked in wonderment at the school.

“It gets easier after a while, but the first time is a little hard.”

“Yeah, let’s hope so.” Kurt gave him a smile, and they walked in together.

“What do you say we get started on the tour now, then we can go have lunch after, and we can talk rules and stuff after that?”

“Sounds good.”

“Okay, so there are six buildings at the school, all of which you need to drive through the security gate to get to.” Kurt nodded, they had been stopped when they had arrived here, and it had made Kurt feel very safe, knowing that no one could get in unless the guard let them in. They had even given the school Karofsky's name and picture, so that they wouldn't let him in.  
“Two of those are living quarters; the North wing, where our room is, and the South wing. The East wing is where the auditorium is, as well as the classrooms for the language classes, the art classes and some history and geography classes. The West wing holds the AV stuff, the computer classes, all the sciences and the labs. The main building holds the dining hall, where we eat four times a day, the offices, some meeting rooms and a few extra classrooms. The last building is the gym, where, naturally the gym hall, but also a smaller gym with weights and such, and a swimming pool we can use within certain hours of the day.”

During the next two hours, Jeff showed Kurt around, and though Kurt was a little overwhelmed, Jeff was a great guide. He showed Kurt all the important things, and said they would wait with the less important, lest Kurt forget everything. Finally they walked towards the dining hall for lunch, and Kurt suddenly realized he might meet Blaine here.

When Kurt had decided he was switching school, he was a little uncertain about how he should approach it. Blaine was great, and had been a good support, and yes, Kurt had a little crush on him, but he didn't really know Blaine at all. Kurt could take the easy road, which probably had many shortcuts, with Blaine as his guide and mentor. Or he could take the road everyone starting the school before him had done, getting to know a lot of people along the way. There were so many potential friends at Dalton, and Kurt wanted the full experience, not the one that cut corners, so he didn't breathe a word to Blaine that he was starting here. He wasn't avoiding Blaine, but they were hardly even friends, and they would meet whenever the fates decided.

Jeff broke into his reverie. “There aren't a lot of people here yet, a lot of boarders went home for the weekend, as it's a home weekend, but they will all be back by supper. As I said, we get served food four times a week; Breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. If you need any more food, which most of us do, there is a fridge with yogurt and stuff and a fruit bar that is always stocked.”

The dining hall was silent as they walked in, with only a few people sitting here and there, and a few people in line for food. Jeff dragged Kurt over to the line, and he was surprised when he realized they had two alternatives, one regular and one healthy one. There were pre-packed salads in a cooling disk, all with plenty of vegetables as well as chicken and pasta, with a dressing on the side. Kurt happily took the salad and was a little stumped when there was no cashier. Jeff saw his face as they walked towards a free table.

“We don't pay, that's all in the tuition.”

Lunch went fast, the two boys exchanging interests and hobbies and finding they had many in common. When Jeff told him he was in the Warblers, Kurt tried to remember him from the performance, but he had been too embarrassed to remember much of it. They walked towards their room through almost deserted corridors, and as they walked in, Jeff picked up the folder that the Headmaster had given Kurt.

“Okay, time to go through this thing. Come on, let’s just sit on my bed, we can unpack your things later.” Kurt sat down next to Jeff on his bed, a little stiff as always because of the bruises, and tried not to touch the other boy, something Jeff rendered unnecessary when he scooted closer, pressing their thighs together.

“Let's see, first there are the rules. There is a rule book somewhere as well, but these are hopefully the only you have to worry about. Here, why don't you read through them, and I'll explain any you might wonder about.”

Kurt took the paper and started reading it silently.

**Top rules for students at Dalton Academy**

**1.** School uniform is to be used in all classes, as well as whenever a student is representing the school in an official capacity. See further rules about the school uniform in rule book.  
 **2.** All Dalton students are to participate in a sport, if physically possible. See list over sports added in the folder to see what qualifies.

**For Boarders**

**1.** Curfew to be back in your room is 11PM Sunday through Thursday, and 2AM Friday and Saturday.  
 **2.** You are allowed to leave the school outside of classes, but you have to back to curfew. You need a note from a parent if this is not possible.  
 **3.** Girls are not allowed in the rooms after 9PM  
 **4.** The dorm kitchen can be used between 5AM and 12PM  
 **5.** There are only certain weekends that boarders can go home, see own overview with dates.

There was really only one rule that Kurt didn't like, the one about sports. He might be good at being kicker, but he had not enjoyed his short stint on the football team, and had no plans of joining one again. He looked up at Jeff, unhappy.

“What kind of sports do they have here?”

“Ah, let's see, I don't remember all, so....” Jeff dragged the word out as he looked for the list in the folder “Here you go.”

The list held a few surprises, and as Kurt started skimming through it, he put an x beside any he could picture himself doing.

Football  
Soccer  
Baseball  
Basketball  
Fencing x  
Swimming  
Martial Arts x  
Hockey  
Cheerleading x

The last one made him stop. They had cheerleading at an all-boys school? How did that work?

“Cheerleading? How does that work in an all-boys school?” Kurt looked up at Jeff who had been toying with his phone.

“Oh, we have a sister school, Crawford Country day, and the boys from Dalton drive over there twice a week to practice. You interested in it?” Jeff was looking at him now, not mockingly like Kurt would have thought, but with a kind smile.

“Yeah, I was a cheerleader at McKinley last year, helped lead them to Nationals. I actually miss it; it would be nice to start with it again.”

After the ‘4 Minutes’ performance and Mercedes quitting the team, Kurt had gone through the Sue Sylvester training program, otherwise known as hell, to come up to par with the rest of the squad. He had been recruited for his singing, but as far as Coach Sue was concerned, he should be in just as good shape as all the others. Come Nationals, he had sung for fourteen and a half minutes in French whilst he did the gymnastics. He liked the gymnastics a lot more than he thought he would, and if it hadn't been for the fact that Coach Sue was insane and a slave driver, he would have loved to continue being on the squad. He quickly decided that he wanted to try out for the Cheerleaders, and he would look at both Martial arts and Fencing, and see what it was like; he could always do with more exercise.

Jeff caught his attention again with another piece of paper. “Now, this is a list of all the clubs you can join in the school. It works like this; you have the two first weeks where you can join any club or sports meeting you like, twice for each club. Some of the clubs have audition to join, like the Warblers or the Cheerleaders, and that gives you a chance to see what the different clubs are about. After the two weeks, you have to decide what you want to take.”

Kurt thought that was a really nice idea, and he started looking through the pages of clubs. In the end he chose some that he wanted to check out:

Fencing (The Kingfishers)  
Martial Arts  
Cheerleading (The Lories)  
Glee club (The Warblers)  
Drama club  
Shop class

Kurt didn't think he would join the drama club, but it was worth checking out. Fencing sounded like it could be fun learning, and as he already familiar with sai swords, both Fencing and Martial Arts should be within his comfort zones. Glee club was a given, at least to see how they ran it, and the shop class was in hopes that they could work on cars. Hopefully he could talk to whoever ran it, and maybe get to tinker down there on his own. He knew he would miss it, now that he couldn't work in the garage.

The afternoon sped by, Jeff helping Kurt unpack and get everything in order. They looked over Kurt's schedule, and at first when he looked at it, Kurt thought there had been a mistake; he had a class after dinner once a week. The class only said ‘SD – gym’, and Kurt had no idea what that meant. He looked up at Jeff to see if he knew, but Jeff was already looking at him, with a sad look on his face.

“What?”

“That last class? SD? It stands for Self-defense.”

Kurt's eyes widened and he remembered the deal he and his dad had made with the headmaster when they first talked to him. The football coach was certified in teaching self-defense, and all students that transferred because of bullying issues had to take it. Jeff obviously knew this somehow, even though Kurt already knew that Jeff had a rich family and had started out at Dalton.

“I...” Kurt didn't know what to say, he was not used to sharing this. He knew there was a big chance that one or more of the boys would notice, as they had communal showers and the bruises he had were bad, but for all he knew none of them would care.

“Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. When someone transfers mid semesters, it's pretty obvious that whatever happened is bad, and I want you to know that you can tell me if you want to. If not, then that's okay too.” Jeff laid a hand on his shoulder, and Kurt sighed in relief. He would probably tell Jeff the details in a few weeks, but not the first day here.

A few hours later they had eaten dinner, again in an almost empty dining hall, and on the way back to their room, Kurt asked Jeff to tell him about the Warblers.

“Well, we are an accapella glee club, with 17 members right now. We have a faculty supervisor, two actually, but we also have a council with three students and one lead singer. The council right now is Wes, who's the head of the council and a senior. He's nice, but somewhat constipated. David, who's a junior, is very easy going and friendly. He tends to help choreograph a lot of our dances, as do I and a guy named James, who is also very nice. Thad, the third council member, and also a junior and probably the head next year, is somewhat stoic. He's very quiet, not the most social of the Warblers, so I don't know how that well, but he's nice and he reads a lot of books. The there's Blaine, he's our lead singer.”

By now they were in their room, sitting across from each other on the beds. Kurt had been listening in interest up until now, and when Jeff mentioned Blaine, he got very curious of what Jeff would say of the other boy.

“Blaine sings really well, and he has a lot of stage presence, but you should be a little careful around him. You're gay, right?” The question caught Kurt a little off guard, but he nodded and Jeff continued. “Blaine can be perfectly nice, but he is kind of a flirt, and he's gay. There have been several gay guys who have fallen for him, just to realize that Blaine is like that with everyone. I don't hate the guy or anything, and as I said, he can be nice when he needs to, but he has broken a lot of hearts on his way, probably without meaning to.”

Kurt felt his heart sink, and he was happy he had decided not to tell Blaine that he was coming here. It was hard to hear that the first gay guy you had a crush on probably wouldn't go anywhere, but at the same time he was glad Jeff had told him now, before it became more than a crush.

“Thanks for letting me know.” Kurt gave him a smile, but before he could say anything else, someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Jeff spoke up, but it was clear that it was no need to shout.

“Me!” Kurt was confused, but Jeff clearly knew who it was and he almost jumped off the bed.

“Oh! Come on in.” Jeff was smiling from ear to ear as a dark haired boy walked in. The boy gave Jeff a hug and a peck on his lips before they both turned to Kurt, who was looking at them a little shocked.

“Kurt, this is my boyfriend Nick, Nick this is my new roommate Kurt.”

Kurt got up from the bed and shook the shorter males’ hand. Jeff stood with his arm over Nick's shoulder and Nick had his arm around Jeff's waist. Nick was calmly smiling at Kurt, whilst Jeff had reached a new level of hyperactive.

Kurt didn't know why, but there was something he liked instantly about Nick. He was calm and collected next to his jumpy boyfriend, and much in the same way that Kurt had connected with Sam when they first met, he connected with Nick. With Sam, what he had first thought were romantically, had soon turned out to be something brotherly. If they had been to school together longer, Kurt was quite certain that Sam would be his best guy friend, and Kurt had planned on trying to stay in contact with the blond.

With Nick, he decided to just see where it went. It was obvious to him that it wouldn't be romantically, not just because Nick loved Jeff, but the connection was something else altogether. He would probably see a lot of Nick anyways, with Jeff as his roomy.

The night went on, they talked and talked and when supper came, Kurt told the two boys to go without him. He wanted to call his dad and Tina, and he was exhausted after everything that day. The talk with his dad was short, but nice, and Kurt felt the stone in his stomach lighten a little, even though he cried through half the conversation. The talk with Tina was a lot longer. He filled her in on everything that had happened, and cried a little again with homesickness. By the time Jeff came back from supper, Kurt was ready to crash, and the two boys got ready for bed.

As he lay down in his bed, Kurt looked over at Jeff, who was in his bed reading. He looked at the blond for a second before speaking. “Thanks for making my first day easier.” Jeff gave him a smile, and Kurt was out like a light.


	3. First day of classes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thanks to Cold Flame96 for help with the American school system. Any mistakes with it are my own, but it is so very different from the Norwegian system, I just can't seem to keep it straight sometimes.  
> 

Kurt was up early the next day, nerves making it hard to sleep properly. He was standing in front of the mirror, looking at his uniform and trying to ignore the heavy knot in his stomach.  
The uniform wasn't horrible, but it really wasn't all that good. The blue jacket with the red piping and the matching tie were okay, but if he had to wear a blazer, he wished the cut and fit of it had been different. The gray dress pants annoyed him - why couldn't they be black, it would fit so much better with the blazer.  
He and Tina had read through the rules of the uniform before they had started packing, and they had annoyed Kurt to no end. They had to order the blazer, tie and pants from a certain tailor in Columbus, and as there had been short notice, Kurt only had one with him. He had ordered five sets, so that he had one for each day of the week in case something happened, and the rest were due to arrive on Wednesday. The shirt had to be white, no color at all, but fabric was your own choice. You could wear whatever shoes you liked as long as they were black and didn't cover the pants in any way, which Kurt thought took away from the whole point of choosing his own shoes. He had brought three pairs of shoes for the uniform, two pairs of dress shoes and his black doc martins, mostly on principle.  
He had pushed the dress code as far as he could. The cuff-links were his own, and he had been out shopping for more of them when he realized that was a small loophole. He also wore a small broche, this one was his late mothers, to give him comfort during the day. He felt a little drab, but he tried to think about that everyone else would be wearing the same. 

Kurt had pulled out his current reading material, “Naked in Death”, that Tina had recommended, and he was just getting into it when Jeff woke up. It seemed to take the other boy just seconds to go from 'dead to the world' to 'bright awake' and he disappeared into the bathroom with a bright “Good morning!”.  
Half an hour later, Jeff and Kurt were on their way to breakfast. Classes started at 07.30 for Kurt, and 08.00 for Jeff. It was mostly because though the eating hall had enough room for everyone, as they all ate dinner and supper together, breakfast and lunch was usually split, freshman and sophomores and junior's and senior's together. This was apparently to avoid everyone filling up the hallways at the same times, as Dalton was a rather large school. 

The boys were just sitting down, both with a somewhat healthy breakfast in front of them, when they were joined by a slightly chubby boy who Kurt could swore he had seen before. 

The blond looked up and gave the boy a smile. “Good morning, Trent.” 

“Good morning.” Trent gave them both a smile, but looked curiously at Kurt. 

“Trent, this is our new transfer, Kurt Hummel. Kurt, this is Trent, he's part of the Warblers and a junior.” 

They shook hands and Kurt gave the boy a smile. “Nice to meet you.” 

“Likewise.” Trent hadn't stopped smiling since he sat down, he seemed like a very friendly guy. 

“So, what's your first class?” Jeff looked up at Kurt curiously.

“AP French, in” Kurt fished out his schedule and looked it over “E217.”

“Oh, I'm going to Spanish just a few doors down, so I can show you the way, if you want.” Trent smiled at him, clearly wanting to be helpful and maybe make a friend. 

“That would be great, thanks.” Kurt put away the schedule again, smiling at Trent as he did so. 

The three of them chatted a little, but soon Kurt and Trent had to leave, and they rose just as Nick came and sat down next to Jeff. The exchanged a quick “Good morning.” before the two juniors left the hall, in a steady stream of other upperclassmen on their way to classes. 

“So, what do you think of Dalton so far?” Trent looked at Kurt curiously, and Kurt found himself liking the other boy simply because of his bouncy attitude and friendly smile. 

“It's a big change, and it will take me some time to get settled, but I like it so far. It's very different from McKinley. A lot more rules then what I'm used to, but I don't really mind it.”

“Yeah, it's a big change, I transferred here at the start of my sophomore year from Carmel and I have a cousin at McKinley, I've heard all about that school.”

They walked down the hall, and Kurt marveled at how even with boys walking all around them, there didn't seem to be any chaos and very little rushing. Had this been McKinley, people would be tripping up each other and rushing in every direction.

They stopped next to an open door, and Trent continued talking. “Here's your classroom, AP French.”

“Thanks, Trent.”

“No problem. If I don't see you after, maybe I'll see you at lunch?”

“Yeah.”

Trent gave him another smile, and turned to continue down the hall. Kurt took a deep breath and hoisted the strap of his bag up a little before walking into the classroom. He was nervous, but AP French was one of his best subjects, and at McKinley he could do it in his sleep, so at least he wouldn't be floundering if he was asked a question. 

The classroom was about half way full, and a male teacher was sitting at the desk, sorting through some papers. Kurt walked up to him and cleared his throat. The teacher looking up at him enquiringly, before his expression cleared when he saw Kurt. 

“Hi, you must be the new student, Kurt Hummel, right?” He offered up his hand to shake. 

Kurt shifted a little and took the offered hand. “Yes sir.”

“Good, good. I know you haven't had your placement tests yet, so I don't know where you are in your learning, but we'll work it out if you are still here come Friday, okay?” Kurt smiled and nodded, happy that he might get the chance to prove himself. “Well, we have simple rules, really. From the time the bell chimes until the class is finished, we speak French all the time. If you can't find a word, you use the dictionary and look it up or find some other way of saying it.”

*DALTON ACADEMY*

The period had gone by fast, and Kurt had enjoyed himself. It was clear that he was still on the top in this class, though it was a lot more challenging than at McKinley. They worked alone throughout the class, so he didn't properly meet any of the other boys, but he was in no hurry; the day was overwhelming enough as it was.

He somehow managed to find his way to World History, and his teacher had shown him to an empty desk slightly in the back. Just as he was taking out his notebook, he heard someone sit down next to him, and he looked up into a familiar face. 

“Kurt?” David from the Warblers was sitting next to him, looking confused. 

“David, hi.” Kurt gave him a small smile and shifted a little in his seat. 

“What... what are you doing here?”

Kurt lifted an eyebrow sarcastically and slightly lifted up his blazer with his fingers, as if showing David the uniform. “Well, I transferred.”

David rolled his eyes and gave him a smile. “Yeah, but I would have thought Blaine would have told us you were coming.”

“Oh, he doesn't know. It was decided just five days ago.” 

David started talking, but the shut his mouth again. He already knew, of course, that Kurt was having some issues at his old school, due to the spying, but it seemed like he hadn't quite gotten how bad it was when Kurt had talked to them. 

“Are you okay?” 

“I'll live.” After becoming clean with his dad about what was going on, Kurt had realized that he wasn't fine, and there was no point in even trying to lie about it. 

David just gave him a nod, and the teacher started the class before they could talk anymore. 

After History class, David showed him to the Algebra II classroom, a class he managed to make it through by the skin of his teeth. He sat next to a nice boy, Cory, who seemed to be just as bad as Kurt in math, but at least he wasn't alone. He wouldn't be surprised if he had to get a tutor for it. 

On his way the next class, he pulled out his phone, and found two new messages. There was one from Tina, with a simple _“How's the first day? I miss you, it's a bit empty here.”_ He texted her back that he was doing good so far, and that he would talk to her tonight. The other one was from Blaine, asking _“How is school? Courage”_. Kurt had to smile a little at it, and he made a quick decision, sending back _“Actually, I just transferred to Dalton, have my first day of classes today”_ , before he put the phone away and found his way to his next class, politics. 

It was something Kurt had been looking forward to. He liked politics and he was good at arguing with people, and he found himself sucked into the discussions and arguments, and by the end of the class, Kurt was sure he had made two new friends. They were cousins, Robert and Danny, and they had been two of the few that had kept up with him in the discussion they had had the last fifteen minutes. The three headed together to lunch talking and before Kurt had even managed to get nervous about where to sit and whatnot, he was sitting with the two boys and their friends. They were about eight boys, and from what Kurt could see, they seemed to have a table that was theirs, from the way the boys had headed there without stopping their discussion. Kurt was quickly introduced around and another discussion started up, which Kurt gladly jumped into. He got a wave from Trent and David as they passed the table, and he raised his fork to them and gave them a smile. He could see them both sitting down at another table with several figures that he recognized and realized it was probably the Warbler table. He also thought he saw David talk to what he thought was Wes and pointing towards him, but he couldn't really be sure.

Lunch break was getting close to finished, and the boys started gathering their things. Robert was also going to AP English, and Kurt gladly walked with him. Talking with these guys, it was obvious that they were some of the more academic students, and Kurt could almost feel his brain grow from all the stimulating conversation he had had. Getting to use his intellect properly was something he didn't even know he had been missing. 

The rest of the classes passed by faster than Kurt would have thought possible, and he met several other people throughout the classes. In AP English, he met Wes again, in science there was at least one of the Warblers that Kurt hadn't officially met, in biology he met a new guy, Martin, and in math he sat with one of the boys from lunch, Mark, who was thankfully better at math than his last partner. 

It was half an hour or so after his last class had finished, and Kurt walked into his room, loosening the tie as he walked. He had two hours before dinner, and he and a few of the boys from his math class had stopped by the dining hall to grab some food after the class. The day had been exhausting, but it had also been surprisingly good. He had met a lot of new people and he was challenged academically, and even though he missed his friends from McKinley, this felt good. 

He started to undress the second he walked into the room, and pulled out his phone. Blaine had, not surprisingly, tried to call him twice, and then sent a text. 

_u at daltn??? when did u gt hr?? what hpnd?_

He started typing as he was undoing the buttons on the shirt, mumbling to himself about Blaine's horrible texting language. 

Yesterday. It's a bit too complicated to do over text, but how about we meet up after dinner and talk?

He continued undressing as he pressed his second speed dial, and the phone rang twice before Tina picked up. 

“Kurt! Hi! How was your first day?” Kurt could hear some noise in the background a realized she had probably just finished her own classes. 

“Long, but good. “ He took a deep breath as he put her on speaker phone and pulled on a pair of his skinny jeans. He started telling her all about the classes and the people, and about the planned meeting with Blaine. 

“I don't really know what to do about it, but I think I'll just have to let it go where it goes.”

“Didn't your roommate tell you he was a flirt, anyway?”

“Yeah. Besides, except if I join the Warblers, there is no natural way for us to meet. He's in sophomore year, so the only thing we do at the same time is eat dinner and supper. But, enough about that. How is everyone?”

“Oh! Glee today was something else. We were trying to figure out how to get enough members on such short notice, and Rachel grumbled something about you leaving. Mike got really mad, and he stood up in front of everyone and basically told them to stuff it. Then he said that you had the right to care about staying alive over a stupid choir competition. They all just looked at him in shock. I don't think they even knew he could talk that much.” Tina giggled, and Kurt laughed with her. He didn't want the whole world to know his business, but he had told Mike it was okay, and he was glad someone had stood up for him. 

“Thank your man for me, will you? You guys really are a great support right now. ” He sighed and asked her, in a quiet voice. “Is everyone as bad as Rachel?”

“Of course! And no. Puck and Santana seem to be neutral on the whole thing, though I suspect they actually support you. Sam nodded along when Mike told them off, so at least he seems to agree with us. Finn seemed to be a little pissed at Rachel for what she said, but he was on the other side of the room from me, so I can't be sure. The rest... well, I wouldn't except anything from them.”

“Well, there's not much I can do about that either way. Maybe I'll send an email to Santana, Puck and Sam and see if they want to keep in contact. I'll talk to Finn whenever I go home. ”

They talked for a while longer, and by the time Jeff came back, Kurt was laying on his bed. 

“Hey! Did you survive the day?” Jeff started stripping from his uniform, and Kurt turned sideways on his bed so that he was looking at the blond. 

“Barely, but I did make it. Met a lot of new people, but my brain is kinda exhausted.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen at first, relax, it will get better.” 

A couple of hours later, they walked together down to dinner, and as they walked into the dining hall, Kurt was a little tense, as he had no idea where to sit, but Jeff solved that issue without knowing it. When they turned towards the tables after getting their trays, Jeff simply signaled with a nod of his head to follow him, and they walked towards a table where Kurt recognized Nick and another guy he was pretty sure was a Warbler, and three other boys. As they sat down, Kurt smiled and nodded to all the boys at the table, and Jeff introduced him all around. The names seemed to just slip out of his mind, like he had finally reached his daily limit of newness and couldn't take in any more, but as the conversations went on around him, he came with inputs here and there. Several people he knew passed the table and he smiled at them, and then Robert suddenly dropped into the seat next to him with a sigh about how he wished the cafeteria served some pizza or hamburgers, and Danny sat down across from him. A couple of the other guys from lunch followed, and Kurt was quickly drawn into a conversation with them.

After a while, people slowly started leaving the hall, the crowd getting thinner and thinner as the dinner was coming to an end. Kurt was in a deep conversation with Danny, both having finished their meals, but too invested in what they were talking about. Jeff had left a while back, telling Kurt to meet him in the room at 7.30 if he wanted to come observe the Warblers. Kurt and Danny had just gotten up from the table to continue the conversation elsewhere, when someone tapped Kurt on the shoulder. Kurt turned around to a smiling Blaine, which he had of course forgotten. 

“Oh, shit! I totally forgot I was supposed to meet you, sorry.” Kurt turned back to Danny, who's face had gone a little tight at the sight of Blaine. “Danny, I'm so sorry, I forgot I promised Blaine to talk about some stuff, can we continue this talk tomorrow?”

“Sure, Kurt, I'll see you at breakfast?” Kurt nodded with a smile, and the other boy continued on his way out of the hall. 

Kurt turned back to Blaine with a smile and a questioning look. “Where to?” 

“There's a bench just outside, if that's okay.” Blaine gave him a look he couldn't quite interpret, but he shrugged it off. 

“Sure.” He let Blaine lead the way, and soon they were sitting out in the warm breeze.

Blaine was the one to break the silence. 

“So, what happened?” He looked at Kurt with worried eyes, and Kurt sighed a little, before he started talking. 

“It's kinda strange. It's just been two days here, but so much happened that I blocked out why I was here, in a way. A lot happened, and I'm not gonna tell you everything, but Karofsky took it too far. He got expelled, but then the board turned over the decision, and I didn't have many choices left. My dad and Carole offered to use their honeymoon money, and a few days later I was here. I'm eligible for some scholarships the next semester, thankfully.”

Blaine pulled him into a one-armed hug for a few seconds before letting go. “Well, I'm glad you chose to come here.”

*DALTON ACADEMY*

Kurt curled up in his bed that night, falling asleep almost the second his head hit the pillow. It had been an extremely intense day, and the two hours with the Warblers had been a bit much to finish with, though it had been interesting. He had been introduced and gotten to simply sit on the sidelines whilst they held the meeting. It was a rehearsal that night, with David showing everyone the dance steps for one of their sectionals numbers. Kurt could clearly see who were the dancers in the group, and when they ran through the song twice at the end, who the singers were. Kurt had an ear for music, and he quickly realized that even though Blaine was the head singer, it was not because he was the one that sang the best, but probably because of his charisma.  
Kurt wanted to join, but he knew he would have to prepare himself for a different kind of glee group, and he was going to observe once more before he joined.

He had ended the day with a phone call to his father, and it had been comforting to hear his voice, and to tell him about his day. There may have been some tears, but Kurt felt he was allowed them, and if the pillow was slightly wet when he fell asleep, no one would know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I know there are a lot of names in this chapter, but all the named characters will come back in later chapters.


End file.
